Ten days ago, in an eagerly anticipated Augusta showdown, supporters and opponents of Maine’s proposed bear-hunting referendum squared off in a real, live, public debate.

The cute slogans didn’t matter. The witty bumper stickers didn’t matter. The oft-mentioned fact that a national animal rights group was emptying its purse in support of the referendum didn’t even matter. Well, not too much. This was Mainer vs. Mainer, point vs. counterpoint. It was people on both sides of a contentious issue coming together, sitting in the same room, and addressing the legislature’s committee on inland fisheries and wildlife.

This was (take a deep, refreshing breath with me here) a public debate. Pure and simple.

That was the plan, anyway.

Until, that is, the proponents of the referendum showed up in Augusta and pulled the oldest schoolyard trick of all.

They took their ball and went home.

A harsh assessment? Perhaps. But accurate? I think so.

There was no debate from the folks who spent hours gathering signatures in order to create a referendum that would outlaw several Maine bear-hunting practices. There was no reasoned exchange of ideas. There was nothing of the sort.

They took their ball and went home.

Understand one thing: It’s not as if proponents of the referendum were just so darned busy that they couldn’t make the trip to Augusta for the debate.

They showed up, all right. Then – instead of offering testimony in the public hearing – they held a press conference, during which their leader, Robert Fisk Jr., assured us that his group “will show” us a number of things about bear hunting in the months ahead.

Then he “showed us” nothing.

“We look forward to this debate,” Fisk said. “But the debate is now going to occur in front of all the people of Maine, not just a small group of legislators closely associated with a special interest group.”

Fisk’s gripe: He believes the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee is in cahoots with the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, the guides, hunters, and (apparently) everyone else his group disagrees with.

“We respect the constitutional provision to be here today and the legislative process,” Fisk said. “But we also know the good ol’ boy network is very much alive and well in the management of Maine’s wildlife and we see no purpose in taking part in it.”

And then?

They took their ball and went home.

No debate. No argument. And they weren’t there to watch when 200 or so Mainers stood as one to announce to that same committee that (although many chose not to speak out publicly) they wanted to be on record as opposing the referendum.

Sen. Bruce Bryant, the committee’s co-chair, offered a fiery assessment of Fisk’s group’s action … or inaction.

“It’s a political stunt they thought they’d use to basically get more press,” Bryant said. “I think it’s an insult to the committee on inland fisheries and wildlife, who have been elected by their peers to represent their districts and process any of the bills or laws here.”

Fisk’s group said the committee wouldn’t have listened. They said the legislative process was stacked against them.

It shouldn’t have mattered.

Fisk and his group owed the people of Maine better. Even if 200 hunters and guides sat in the aisles to refute his points, Fisk should have stood up and spoken.

Even if the committee wasn’t – as we all knew it wasn’t – going to automatically agree with his group and take the vote out of the voters’ hands by recommending passage of the citizen-initiated bill.

Even if he thought similar proposals had been treated unfairly in the past.

The people deserved better.

Voters deserved to see the debate. To hear about it. To watch it on TV.

And they didn’t get that chance.

They took their ball and went home.

When a 10-year-old does the same thing on the playground, he’s spoiled. He’s a brat. He’s unreasonable.

When adults do it? It’s worse.

They took their ball and went home.

I hope Mainers remember that come November.

Maine Game Warden Joe McBrine checked in earlier this week with a request for help from NEWS readers.

The Warden Service keeps track of wardens who have died in the line of duty, and has spent a bit of time trying to find the final resting spots of those wardens.

That list is complete, and several of the wardens would like to pitch in to buy a new headstone for one of their fallen brothers, Charles W. Niles.

The current headstone on Day Hill in Wesley is a small, plain one with only the lot number – 51 – inscribed on it.

Wardens would like to buy a more fitting tribute to Niles.

The problem: They wouldn’t do so without the consent of that warden’s family members … and they can’t locate any.

Niles was shot and killed by a violator on Nov. 8, 1886, as was fellow warden Lyman O. Hill.

Family members who can trace their lineage back to Charles Niles are encouraged to call McBrine at 255-6444.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.